To honor the late Mexican architect, AD looks back on his career and presents a portfolio of his residential projects that were featured in the magazine’s pages

Ricardo Legorreta, a designer of buildings that were boldly modern yet deeply rooted in the traditional architecture of his native Mexico, died on December 30, at the age of 80. A regular presence in Architectural Digest (including appearances on several AD100 lists), Legorreta was known for his cubic structures with stucco walls, usually painted in striking combinations of rich, earthy reds, sun-baked coppers and oranges, bright yellows, purples, and pinks. In addition to garnering numerous awards in his native country, Legorreta was the recipient of the 2000 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, the AIA’s highest honor, and this past October, he received Japan’s prestigious Praemium Imperiale arts prize. Recognition of his achievements and influence extended far beyond regional borders.

A protégé of the great Mexican modernist Luis Barragán, Legorreta founded his own studio in 1964. His son Victor joined the firm in the early ’90s, and in 2000 it became Legorreta + Legorreta. Among the numerous commercial, cultural, and institutional projects Legorreta designed around the world, perhaps the most famous are Pershing Square in Los Angeles (1993), which has a 125-foot-tall purple bell tower as its focal point; the massive, enchilada-red San Antonio Central Library (1995); and the Camino Real Hotel in Mexico City (1968), whose entry court features a screen wall painted hot pink. Defined by an emphasis on light and space and a connection to the earth, Legorreta’s compounded sculptural forms and enclosures were nearly always integrated with vegetation and water.

The traditional Mexican house plan was a recurrent theme in Legorreta’s oeuvre, evident in projects such as his Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Monterrey (1991), where a central courtyard is surrounded by arcades opening out into galleries. That influence can also be found in a number of Legorreta’s residential projects, the sphere in which he did some of his best work. Never stuffy or overly formal, his houses incorporated luxurious volumes, thick walls, gridded windows, long corridors, grand airy spaces, and, very often, his signature colors.

“Most architects believe it is their job to educate their clients,” says Adriana Ciklik, operations director at Legorreta + Legorreta. “But Ricardo thought the opposite—he wanted to understand the clients and make their dreams come true.”